The Godfather

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EA pulls out all the stops with its GTA-styled Godfather.

By Douglass C. Perry

No matter how big or small, if you're creating a "living-breathing, open world city" with Italian mobsters and drive-by shootings, you're heading into Grand Theft Auto territory. The comparisons are simply going to happen. So, we'll make this brief: If you're going to make a game of this kind, you'd better do it big. Having secured the Paramount Pictures license for the use of The Godfather in videogames, Electronic Arts has tapped into the godfather of all mafia movies, and we're happy to say EA is laying down an Italian gaming feast with all the trimmings, cannoli included.

Tapping the talents of more than 20 actors and actresses from the first film, EA's The Godfather puts players in the shoes of a young, ambitious mobster who ascends through the ranks of the Corleone family, earning respect and loyalty along the way in the race to become the next Don. Using the voices of the late Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, James Caan as Sonny Corleone, and Robert Duvall as consigliore Tom Hagen (but not Robert Dinero or Al Pacino), the multiplatform game (Xbox, PS2, PC, PSP and "next-gen systems," i.e. Xbox 2) re-creates New York City from 1945 to 1955 with a colorful and dramatic landscape of characters, backgrounds and branching storylines.

The Godfather is an action-adventure game comprising about 80% on-foot action and 20% in vehicles, giving gamers the weapons and vehicles appropriate to the times, i.e. Tommy Guns, shotguns, handguns, baseball bats, and extravagant, boat-like Buicks, Fords, and Oldsmobiles. But while EA's Redwood Shores team has the The Godfather movie license, the award-winning film is an inspiration rather than a blueprint to make the game. That means fans of mafia-type games will experience quintessential moments from the movie, but they'll add their own new chapters by playing this game.

You'll generate your own character for starters. Using the face-creating technology from Tiger Woods PGA Tour and The Sims, players can create an ethnically correct (read: Italian male) character to start. From there, you work through the ranks, collecting money from small businessmen using the skill of intimidating persuasiveness or the threat of violence to get the job done. Additionally, gathering information and learning about jobs and hits takes place through constant communication with the game's NPCs, which play a large role in the story's evolution. In a neat wrinkle to the genre, over the 10-year period of the game, your character's looks change. His face will wrinkle, and perhaps he'll gain weight and begin graying.

Intimidate shop keepers with mild or violent actions.

Unlike Grand Theft Auto, but along the lines of True Crime: Streets of LA, your actions will affect the storyline, with three branches that provide three different endings. Characters "remember" your interactions with them, so that as you progress and encounter them later, they'll react accordingly. If you beat the hell out of them, they'll be scared, or if you were nice, they might smile or act friendly. Each action sends ripples throughout the community to help cement your reputation.